Dead Impact
by Anteyra
Summary: A large piece of the roof of the pod had fallen on her and was stuck in her side. Blood lay on the floor in a large wet pool. He raised a hand from the blood. He hadn’t realised he had been leaning in it. The blood covered his hand and dripped off... RS
1. Damage

At first there was horror, terror and panic. Bleeps were coming from all consoles as the craft plunged down towards the surface of a planet.

"Brace for impact!"A voice yelled. All personnel lent forward and covered their heads with their arms.

And then there was silence, and blackness.

As one of the people regained consciousness he looked around him. The others were still unconscious. A couple of wires hanging from the roof sparked as power was still going through them but the electrical charges had no where to go. As a couple of wires sparked near his head he quickly drew back. He had been slumped over the control panel. Glass fragments lay in his hair and on his uniform and over the console in front of him.

He spun round in his chair to inspect the damage behind him and how his crewmates were. He stood up and moved over to T'Pol. She had been sitting to the left of him, but now she was lying on the floor.

"T'Pol?" He said as he checked for a pulse. Pressing his fingers on her neck just below the chin, he waited for a couple of seconds and sighed slightly as he found her pulse, slowly beating. A drop of blood fell on the floor. Raising an arm up to his forehead he wiped away the trickling blood. He gently nudged her to wake her up, but she didn't move. He then looked at his two other passengers… Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker, and Ensign Hoshi Sato. Both were unconscious.

"Hoshi?" He called as he stood up and moved over to her. Doing the same thing he did with T'Pol he checked for a pulse, and then also the same with Tucker. Both were still alive. He rubbed his eyes trying to make sense of what had happened before he passed out.

That's when he saw it. Something he never expected to see.

His face dropped at the sight and he knew that Hoshi's life now depended on him.

A large piece of the roof of the pod had fallen on her and was stuck in her side. Blood lay on the floor in a large wet pool. He raised a hand from the blood. He hadn't realised he had been leaning init. The blood covered his hand and dripped off, splashing into the main pool on the floor.

"Oh my god." He said as he inspected the large wound. It looked like the only thing that could help her now was Doctor Phlox, but he was back up on the ship, and there was no way to contact them. This pod looked like its days were numbered.

A noise alerted him that someone was beginning to wake up. He looked around at where the noise was coming from, and sure enough, Commander Tucker was waking up.

"Commander?" He said as he moved over to him. He watched as the chief engineer's eyes slowly opened. He brought a hand up to his eyes so he could wipe away a few small pieces of debris.

"Are you all right Malcolm?"

"Yes, but Hoshi isn't." Lieutenant Reed replied. At hearing this Trip quickly raised himself into a sitting position. He looked at the young linguist, lying on her front with the piece of bulkhead protruding from her body. Trip readied his fingers to check for a pulse. "I've already checked. She's gota pulse but there isn't anything we can do for her."

Trip looked at him. "We've got to try what ever we can." He gazed over at the unconscious T'Pol. "How's T'Pol?"

"She's just unconscious." Malcolm replied as he looked at her, then back at Trip.

A sudden noise outside the pod alerted both men. They looked at the hatch and then at each other. Trip used hand signals to talk to Malcolm and he moved over to a storage bin and took out two phase pistols. He passed one to Trip and made sure his was set on stun. He then moved over to the hatch. Slowly he placed his hand on the release button and pressed it.As it opened Malcolm readied is weapon ready to fire, but when the hatch was fully opened he found himself looking outside with a few weapons pointing at his face. Immediately he lowered his weapon, knowing that fighting was not an option right now.

As Trip saw the weapons being pointed at his friend's face he also dropped his weapon.

Two men grabbed Malcolm and pulled him out of the pod. Another two men then moved in and pulled Trip out. Lastly one man moved in and picked up T'Pol. Trip and Malcolm looked at each other with worry, as no men appeared to go in to help Hoshi.

"Hey, wait a minute! Our friend needs help in there!" Trip shouted, pointing at the pod, but it only resulted in a man moving towards him and pushing him to move off. It appeared that these people didn't speak English, and their linguist was in a terrible state.

The group moved off, leaving Hoshi for dead in the damaged pod.

Trip glanced back over his shoulder at the pod. It had crashed in a field, surrounded by a forest. He turned his whole body round so that he was walking backwards. He tried to stop walking altogether, but one of the captors just pushed him, nearly making him fall on his back, and so he kept walking. Fearful of the fate that lay for Hoshi.


	2. Detained

"And you're sure you can't detect it anywhere else?" Archer asked as he stood over the helm controls, looking at the scans.

"I can't see the pod anywhere sir." Ensign Travis Mayweather replied, slightly shaking his head as he continued to run more scans.

Archer straightened himself and moved over to the COMM desk where a young man was sitting. He was Hoshi's stand in while she was on the away mission.

"See if you can clear up that distress call. Find out what happened." Archer ordered him.

"Yes sir." The young man immediately set to work. Archer looked around the bridge, taking note of who he currently had on the bridge. Travis, Crewman Ferris on COMM, Ensign Whyte at tactical and Crewman Gillingham on Science station. Archer then moved off the bridge and went into his ready room.

&&&&&

Trip and Malcolm were led to a town… these people definitely had good technology. As they walked along the paths people stopped and stared at both the men walking along. If there were any pairs of on lookers they began to whisper to each other. Malcolm and Trip tried to focus on what they were saying, but they didn't understand a word of it… they were indeed unable to communicate with them both… they both wished that Hoshi hadn't been injured and she was there with them.

They entered a small run-down building, located in back streets, behind some of the taller more modern looking buildings. Once inside they moved over to a wall. One of the guards pushed a section of it and a section of the wall slid back revealing a door. He pressed another button and that door slid back to reveal what appeared to be a turbolift of some sorts. With a shove from the guards behind them both Malcolm and Trip entered, a couple staying with them, one man still carrying T'Pol. The rest stayed outside the lift. One of the guards pressed a button, the door closed, and the lift started moving down. They were being taken below ground. Once the lift door had closed the guards moved away and left the building, the section of wall sliding back into place to conceal the lift.

When the lift stopped, Trip and Malcolm found themselves facing a T-Junction corridor. To the left of them the corridor moved along and came to a door… to the right, there was another door, about the same distance as the one on the left. Directly ahead of them lay a very long corridor. As they moved forward they could see that there were holding cells, but they had no doors. The men stopped the two Starfleet officers, pressed buttons to the side of the cells and a forcefield was dropped. Both Malcolm and Trip jumped a little as they watched the forcefield shimmer as it went offline. Both men were pushed into two different cells opposite each other. T'Pol was placed in another cell to the left of Trip.

As soon as they guards were gone both men slumped down to the floor. Now there definitely no hope for them to be able to get back to the shuttlepod to try and save Hoshi.

"Commander, What are we going to do?" Malcolm called from his cell. Trip looked at him.

"I don't know Malcolm." he replied grimly.

A couple of drops of blood fell next to Malcolm's boot. He placed a hand onto his forehead and realised that he was still bleeding. He looked around his cell and noticed a white box in one corner. He moved to it and opened the box. Inside he found an array of hyposprays and some bandages. He took one of the bandages out and what appeared to be some antiseptic wipes and began to clean up his wound.

"You sure that's a good thing to do Malcolm?" Trip was watching his friend messing around with the alien's medical kit.

"I need to stop the bleeding commander. I doubt they'll do anything for me." He replied as he took a long bandage and began to wrap it around his head, covering up the wound. Malcolm then noticed the uneasy look Trip had on his face. "Do you think Enterprise will be able to find the shuttle?" he finally asked as he finished tying off the bandage.

"I don't know Malcolm. But I don't think they'll be able to find Hoshi alive in there when they do."

Malcolm's heart sank as he heard how the chief engineer was talking. He had never been so pessimistic… if anyone on the ship was pessimistic it was Malcolm, definitely not Trip.

&&&&&

Archer hurriedly entered the bridge after having spent a few hours in his ready room.

"What is it Travis?" he moved over and stood behind Travis, glancing at the controls, but more at Travis waiting for a response.

"I've found the shuttlepod. Looks like it took a really heavy beating when it crashed sir." Travis replied, looking at Archer, then back at his console again.

"On screen?" Archer turned to look at Ferris as he worked. After a few seconds a picture of the landscape showed on the view screen. "Magnify." The picture went closer and they could see the damaged shuttlepod, lying in the middle of a field, surround by lots of trees. Large pieces of debris were just about visible, however at that distance it wasn't clear if they were debris, or bodies lying there. The pod no longer looked silver, but it looked blacked… fire damage. Fearing the worst he turned round and looked away from the view screen. "Bio signs?" Archer asked as he looked at Crewman Gillingham with fear in his eyes.

"None. Sir." She replied. Archer's heart sank. He turned to face Ensign Whyte.

"Prep shuttlepod 2."

"Aye sir." Whyte stood up and went over to the turbolift. Archer took one last look at the crash site and entered the turbolift with Whyte.


	3. Vanishing Point

In their cells along the long corridor underground on the alien planet, Trip and Malcolm were bored. There wasn't really anything they could do. Both were far too worried about Hoshi to actually try and find something to entertain themselves with.

In the cell next to Trip, T'Pol was still unconscious…. They were now just hoping that she hadn't got a head wound and that she was in a coma.

Malcolm kept glancing over at the form of T'Pol. She had be placed so that her front was facing the back wall of her cell. After each glance he looked back at Trip and shook his head… telling him that T'Pol still hadn't woken up.

By now Malcolm had lost count how long they had been in the cells. He had even tried to fall asleep, but all he could think about was Hoshi… lying in the pod with the bulkhead in her… he couldn't go to sleep with those mental images going round in his head.

"2 hours." Trip suddenly said, finally breaking the cold silence. He was sitting up against one of the side walls, he arms resting on his knees, and he was hardly moving. Malcolm looked at the engineer. He was practically in the same position, just he had one leg on the floor.

"Excuse me Commander?" replied the Armoury officer in a little confusion.

"We've been here for two hours now."

"And how would you know?"

"I've been counting… not much else to do." Trip replied as he sighed deeply. It was not really the sort of thing that he wanted to hear… two hours since they left Hoshi back at the pod. There was no way that she could still be alive now. That thought was going to haunt Malcolm for a long time now. He did everything he could to shake it out of his mind, but no matter how hard he tried, it was staying put… like someone had glued it there with super glue. Malcolm looked down at the floor in front of him, and he was sure that his cut was still bleeding as he felt something wet fall down his cheek. He brushed it away with his hand. As he looked back at his hand he realised that it wasn't blood. It had been a tear.

"I know what you're thinking Malcolm."

Once again Malcolm looked at Trip. He hadn't moved an inch… not since Malcolm had last looked at him.

"And don't think the only thing I'm thinkin' about is how long we've been here… cause it ain't." Finally Trip looked at the Armoury officer.

"I know Commander." Sadness rang on Malcolm's voice. Once again Malcolm was looking at T'Pol.

Still no movement.

Malcolm sighed heavily as another tear slowly began to creep down his cheek. Eventually the droplet reached his chin and finally, due to gravity, it fell on the floor, splashing into smaller droplets.

&&&&&

Shuttlepod 2 managed to land in the field near to shuttlepod 1, without any trouble. Archer, Whyte, and a couple of other security members and Doctor Phlox stepped out.

"I'm not detecting any bio matter, except in the pod." Phlox reported, looking at his scanners. Archer looked at him as he talked and then looked around at the damaged pod. He signalled with his hands to follow him.

Archer moved round to the opposite side of the pod and noticed the hatch open. He moved over, pointing his phase pistol in case there were any intruders…. But there were none… the pod was empty… the only thing visible of bio matter was the large pool blood on the decking near one of the storage bins.

"Phlox!" Archer called. After a few seconds Phlox appeared and began to take scans of the blood. He looked at his results grimly.

"The blood matches Ensign Sato's."

But where were they?

Archer reached into his left arm pocket and pulled out his communicator. He flipped it open and began to speak.

"Archer to Commander Tucker." He waited a few seconds "Archer to Commander Tucker." He waited a few more seconds, but still there was silence.

"Captain!" a call from Whyte alerted him that something had been found. Archer moved over to where the officer stood, pointing at the area of ground. In the taller blades of grass, footsteps were visible, and they were leading off away from the pod, and into the trees. At three sets were clearly visible. "And that's not all. There's some blood just over there." Whyte added pointing a few feet away from him. Both Archer and Phlox moved to where he had indicated and sure enough a few small drops of blood were visible.

"Hoshi's?" Archer looked at Phlox, studying his scan results. All Phlox could do was nod in response. A couple of bleeps from Phlox's scanner alerted him.

"Also I'm detecting a small trace of someone's else's blood."

"Can you tell who?"

"It appears to be Lieutenant Reed's." Phlox stood up and moved into the pod and to the pilot's seat where Malcolm had been sitting. He didn't need his scanner to look for the few drops of blood that were on the console. Archer watched from outside the pod as Phlox looked inside the pod. "Both Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato are injured captain."

"Can you tell how bad?"

"Judging by where the blood is on this control panel I would say that Lieutenant Reed only has a cut on his head… As for Ensign Sato. The large amount of blood there suggests she has been seriously injured."

Archer turned to Whyte and the other two security officers. "Spread out for a bit… see if you can find any trace of them."

"Aye sir." The three of them moved of in the direction the blood was going. As they moved further away from the pod they began to fan out, but not too much.

Archer glanced back inside the pod and just stared at the blood lying there. The only thing he cared about now was that his four officers were all ok.


	4. Civilisation

All was quite… there was hardly a sound… only the feint murmur of power conduits, most likely supplying power to the forcefields that prevented Trip, Malcolm and T'Pol from leaving their cells. It had now been 3 hours they had spent in those cells. 3 hours of almost complete silence… not even the lift at the end of the corridor had been activated again since they had arrived. It almost looked as if they had been abandoned down there to die… die of starvation… and Trip was beginning to get hungry.

He hadn't had any breakfast that morning as he had been called to take a look at the engines. Once again, for about the 5th day in a row the warp field generators kept going offline once the ship reached a speed of warp 2.6… so the ship had been kept travelling at warp 2.5, only going a bit faster when Trip believed the repairs were complete and the warp field generators were working again… however after a few hours, they went back offline again.

'_What if they had actually gone back to the pod to help Hoshi_.' Malcolm kept thinking. It was about the only thing that was stopping him from crying… That, and the fact that Commander Tucker may try and hurt himself trying to actually walk through the forcefield to get to his friend to comfort him… and Malcolm didn't want anyone else to get hurt. He just wanted to know where Hoshi was.

A groaning sound from the other side of the corridor alerted Malcolm. He looked around and finally laid eyes on T'Pol she was beginning wake up.

"T'Pol?" He called, as he moved into a more comfortable position… having stayed seating with his back up against the wall for 3 hours, his bottom was getting numb and he needed to move. Trip noticed what was going on and also changed position… both his legs and bottom were now numb and very soon the pins and needles effect would kick in and he would be in immense pain just trying to sit comfortably.

"What happened?" She queried as she moved around to face Malcolm. She looked around her taking not of everything. She listened to the hum of the power conduits. "We are in a cell." She stated clearly. '_Nothing can get passed you T'Pol_' Malcolm thought. A very similar thought was going through Trip's mind… '_T'Pol, the great Vulcan detective… do they have detectives on Vulcan?_' he asked himself.

"Are you all right T'Pol?" Trip called… even though she could not see him, T'Pol turned her head in the direction she knew Trip was sitting in.

"I believe so." She replied. She lookedalong the corridor, noting the numerous cells, each one identical. "Where are we?"

"Like you said a second ago we're in cells." Trip said. "The people who live on this planet brought us here… how else do you think we got here!" Trip shouted. Malcolm could tell that the situation about Hoshi was getting to the Commander.

"Where is Ensign Sato?"

Trip and Malcolm looked at each other, they really didn't want to answer that question, but because T'Pol was a higher rank that Trip, they had to "She's not here. She was seriously injured back in the pod. They left her there T'Pol." Malcolm finally said… he was definitely about to cry, nothing was going to stop him. T'Pol was taken aback by the lieutenant's words.

The three prisoners then just sat in their cells in silence. Both T'Pol and Trip didn't say a word for fear of upsetting Malcolm.

&&&&&

An hour after Archer had told his three security officers to spread out to find any trace of his missing staff, Ensign Whyte returned... alone.

"What have you got to report?" Archer asked as Whyte came walking through the long grass.

"We've discovered a settlement, about 3 miles away sir. Cooper and Stevenson are observing the town. Looks like the people who live here are up to date with technology. What they have is pretty similar to what we had on earth about 100 years ago."

Archer was taking in every bit of detail… a civilisation… that must be where his four officers were. Archer looked at Phlox, who was still positioned inside the pod. Knowing that two of his officers were injured he had to do something, and soon. Archer turned back to face Whyte.

"Show us."

"Captain… aren't you forgetting…" Phlox began, however Archer gave him a sharp look and immediately interrupted him.

"I'm forgetting nothing. But I have two of my officers injured. I need to know where they are so we can help them… and if that means showing ourselves to a pre-warp planet, then I'm willing to take that chance… the life of my officers are more important than technology."

Phlox slowly nodded. The captain's intentions were good, but maybe he was letting his personal feelings for each of them get in the way of duty and orders.

A thought then struck Archer's mind... _'Why couldn't we detect it from the ship?_' he asked himself, although not long after the question came to him, he got a reply from himself. _'Maybe a dampening field._' he thought slowly.


	5. Awakening

Steadily and slowly she opened her eyes, but a bright light shinning down on her caused her to shut them tight again. She blinked a few times for her eyes to get adjusted to the brightness. When her eyes were more or less focused she could see a bright light shining down from the ceiling. The sounds around her were also strange. Listening as best she could she tried to make out the voices around her, but all she could hear was gibberish.

She wanted to know what was making the sounds so she tried to sit up, but she was met by pain and she could hardly move.

"Ga dar!" a voice suddenly sounded. She heard a door open and then close, so someone had either left or entered the room. Suddenly a face loomed over her and she was starring into the eyes of what appeared to be a human… but no human would speak like these people were.

The person standing over her had a mask over their mouth and nose, and some kind of hat covering their head. She knew what was happening… she was in surgery… what were they doing to her? The last thing she remembered was the pod being thrown about and then flying off the bench and hitting her head on the back of the pilot's seat.

Again the door opened and closed and from her lying down position she could just about make out another person, wearing the same head piece as the man she could fully see… even if her vision was slightly blurred. She noted that she must've been given some sort of sedative that hadn't fully worn off yet.

"Biefend plajock?" The man asked. Hoshi knew that the question had been directed at her but she had no idea what it meant. "Biefend plajock?" He repeated, but without a universal translator to even give her a hint of what they were trying to say, she had no way to respond. She tried to open her mouth, but as she tried to speak she could tell words were not coming out.

The man went out of her vision and then came back. He had a hypospray in his hand. He pressed it into her neck. In her mind she was trying to get away from it, but her body just wasn't moving. She heard the 'fizz' as whatever was in the hypospray was injected into her bloodstream… whatever it was it actually felt refreshing. Almost instantly she knew that her vision was getting clearer. She tried turning her head a little to the left, and she found that she had the strength to do it.

"Biefend plajock?" The man asked again.

Hoshi mind was now becoming clearer and she was beginning to think a little clearer too. Listening to his words, and given the current situation, Hoshi had come to the conclusion that 'Biefend plajock' meant one of either two things, maybe more… it could mean ' How are you feeling'… or 'Who are you?'… After letting the effects of the reviver work for a couple more seconds she opted for the 'How are you feeling?' translation… now her only problem was she didn't know how to respond to it.

The man soon turned away and moved over to another person… a woman. After a few words between them the woman nodded and left the room. After a couple of minutes she returned, holding an odd shaped object. Hoshi squinted her eyes trying to focus on what it was they were holding and then she realised that it was her translator. The man walked back over to her and put the translator into her hands.

Slowly Hoshi managed to operate the translator.

"I need you to talk." Hoshi said, moving her hand in an odd fashion as if it were a mouth, talking. For a second the man looked at her blankly. She thought for a second, then… "Biefend plajock?" she finally said, hoping now the translator would be able to pick up the language if he gave her an answer.

"Mazzen tavgii, kollo." He replied in his odd language.

The translator bleeped a couple of times and Hoshi slightly nodded in satisfaction.

"What is that object?" The man asked. The translator had managed to pick up the simple dialect of his species and seemed to be working pretty well.

"It's a universal translator. It helps me to communicate with people that can't speak my language." Hoshi replied. "What am I doing here?"

"You were injured when your vessel crashed in one of our fields. We have hopefully managed to treat you correctly. It's not easy trying to operate on a species we don't recognise." Very carefully the man helped Hoshi to sit up.

"Where are my friends?" Hoshi asked, but the man lust looked at her in a quizzical way. "I had three friends with me in that vessel. Where are they?"

"You were the only person brought to the hospital, wearing the same clothes that you were. It's most likely that they would have been taken to a detainment complex."

"Why?"

"We're not used to having aliens here. The last aliens that came along tried to destroy our planet."

"We're only explorers. We don't want to hurt any one." She explained as the other people in the room began to clear surgical implements and tidy the room up. "Did you find any other devices in my uniform?"

"I'm afraid not. You'll have to excuse me. I have a couple of other patients to attend to." And with that he left the room. Hoshi was left on her own sitting up on the bed.

Somehow with the way he had acted in response to Hoshi's last question, she felt he wasn't telling the truth, maybe because he knew that one was a communicator and she would be able to contact her ship to destroy the planet. She now knew that she was going to have to do something to convince these people that they weren't there to destroy them.


	6. Harbinger

Archer, Whyte and Phlox arrived at the position where Cooper and Stevenson were waiting, still watching the settlement from the trees so they wouldn't be spotted.

"Anything?" Archer asked as he moved closer to them.

"They look exactly like us sir. But we haven't seen any of the other away team." Cooper replied as he passed the field glasses to Archer so he could have a look at the town.

"Captain. I'm detecting one human bio-sign in a building not far from here." The Denobulan doctor reported after taking scans of the settlement.

"Where?"

Phlox took a second to work out from his scans which building he was to show to the Captain. "That one." He finally said pointing to a building that was 5 stories high.

"We think that building might be a hospital of some sorts. We've been watching people go in with injuries and others come out with something to show that they have been treated." Replied Stevenson as Archer looked at a couple of people walking into the building. "That's most likely Ensign Sato in there." He added, thinking about the amount of blood that had been left in the pod.

"What do you want us to do sir?" Cooper asked as he watched the expressions on his captain's face. He was definitely trying to think of a plan, but it didn't look at though he was having much luck. He finally looked up at the sky… it was beginning to darken.

"We'll wait until it's dark, and then get in there… see if we can find her." Archer replied. The five men all shuffled around into a more comfortable position ready to move when Archer gave the order, but for now… it was just sit in silence and wait. Archer handed the field glasses back to Cooper and he continued to observe the town.

&&&&&

Darkness came quicker than the team expected. Most of the lights on the building that was their target had been turned off.

Archer looked at his officers and gave a slight nod, and they all got up. They silently crept into the town staying as much as they could in the shadows.

When they reached the hospital building Archer took a quick glance in through a window. From there he could see a desk with two people sitting at it. Silently the quintet moved round to the back of the building. They found a back door and opened it.

Directly in front of them was a flight of stairs… there was nowhere else for them to go, so they began to climb up them. By the time they had reached the 4th flight of stairs Phlox called them to a halt.

"The bio-sign is on this floor captain."

Archer nodded and Cooper went over to the door that led out onto the main floor of the hospital. He opened it and carefully looked both ways down the corridor. It seemed completely empty. He fully opened the door and nodded to the rest of them that all was clear.

They all looked around them, waiting for Phlox to tell them which way to go. He pointed to go left down the corridor.

Footsteps were suddenly heard and the team quickly ducked into a storage room, Cooper having to pull Phlox in to prevent him being seen by whoever it was walking down the corridor.

The footsteps got louder and louder as the person came near… Archer was holding his breath, and so was his three security officers. Then the footsteps began to fade as the person walked past and continued down the corridor. They all then breathed again. They were safe for now.

Silently Whyte opened the storage room door to check all was clear… and it was… they quickly got out of the room and hurriedly walked down the corridor. Stevenson very quietly closed the door behind him and ran to catch up with the others who were by now already turning the corner.

They continued to search the floor for the bio-sign and finally they came to the room.

"In here." Phlox silently said. Archer looked through the small window in the door to see who was in there. As soon his eyes laid on the sleeping form of Hoshi he quickly scrambled to open the door and get into the room. Phlox, Whyte, Cooper and Stevenson all quickly filed into the room.

"Hoshi?" Archer whispered as he gently sat on the bed next to her, hoping to wake her up. Phlox stood the other side of the bed and ran some scans of her. Archer was half expecting his expressions to be that of worry, but instead they were expressions of satisfaction.

"They seem to have healed her nicely." He said as he put his scanner into his pocket.

"Hoshi?" Archer whispered again, this time a little louder. This time the young woman began to stir. She opened her eyes and they took a few seconds to register who was sitting over her.

"Captain?"

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine." She replied as she began to sit up. Archer helped her to move.

"We're here to get you back to the ship."

"What about the others?"

"We don't know where they are." Cooper replied as he moved away from the door from being on look out. "Someone's coming!" He quickly reported. Giving hand signals to each of his men he managed to get them hidden around the small room. Cooper and Phlox hid in the on-suite bathroom. Whyte cramped himself into the corner behind the door and crouched on the floor. Stevenson had managed to squeeze himself into the wardrobe. Archer slide under the bed and waited for a few seconds. At that moment the door opened and the lights were turned on.

"You must be getting stronger Hoshi for you be sitting up on your own." Said the doctor as he moved over to her, checking the monitors as he did. Hoshi didn't respond to his question as she was stillfeeling quite sleepy.


	7. Judgement

Down in the cells the three prisoners had finally been brought a meal. It was the only movement they had seen from the inhabitants of the planet since they were locked up.

The meal consisted of what looked like chicken, a couple of slices of bread and a glass of water. T'Pol looked at the food on her tray and was feeling a little queasy at the sight of the meat. However she still drank the water, and the pieces of bread that hadn't touched the meat.

Trip and Malcolm however were too upset about the loss of Hoshi to actually eat anything.

"When the captain finds us I highly doubt he'll want to have three of his officers dead." She stated as she pushed the tray away from her so she was close to the forcefield to talk to Malcolm. He glanced over at her. It was more likely that Malcolm hadn't even realised that the food had been brought to him.

Seeing that T'Pol was right Trip began to eat… even if it was only a few bites of the bread. "She's right Malcolm."

"I'm not hungry." He replied as he looked away from his friends and sat staring at the opposite wall.

Trip couldn't believe what he was hearing from him. He knew that Malcolm did have feelings for Hoshi, but he didn't realise they were this strong. "Do you really think that Hoshi would want to see you like this?"

Malcolm looked at Trip, but immediately went back to looking at the wall again. But Trip wasn't going to give up on him that easily. he tried a different approach

"If you don't eat something, as soon as we get out of this I'm gonna bust your ass from here to Pluto!"

Both T'Pol and Malcolm were surprised at the tone of voice he had taken to, and resorting to violence. But that still didn't seem to make him touch his food.

Trip sighed. He knew he had to try another approach.

"I know Hoshi would not want you to be like this Malcolm. And if you really loved her, you would know that too."

Malcolm had never told anyone how he felt about Hoshi… he hadn't even told Hoshi… But that was never going to be now. The three of them knew that she was dead. Without any immediate medical attention she… Malcolm just didn't want to think about it any more.

He looked at the engineer again and instantly T'Pol and Trip could see the tears running down his cheek.

All Trip wanted to do was go over to him to give him comfort. He was getting annoyed about being in the cell… separated by the forcefields. He looked around his cell, noticing that Malcolm still wasn't eating anything. He then noticed a small panel, under his bed, about 3 inches ². He scrambled over to it, crawled under the bed and removed the panel. Behind it were lots of wires.

Malcolm had once again looked over at Trip and noticed what he was doing. He wiped away his tears and looked under his bed and sure enough there was a panel. He removed it and found the same number of wires. T'Pol however just watched Malcolm, intrigued by his actions.

Trip looked at the wires and then at Malcolm.

"How many wires have you found Malcolm?"

Malcolm counted each wire carefully. "I count about 17."

"That's what I've got."

"Are you suggesting that one of the wires might power down the forcefields?" T'Pol called.

"That's what I'm hoping."

"But also one of these wires could trigger off an alarm." Added Malcolm.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Replied Trip as he continued to look at the wires. He rubbed his forehead as he tried to think about the next move. It was pretty much like a chess game… move the wrong piece and it could be check mate for him.

It didn't really help the situation much that the 17 wires were only four different colours… Red, Blue, Yellow and Green, and Brown.

"What do you think Malcolm?" Trip called from under his bed as he looked at the Armoury officer, already he looked a little happier than he had a few minutes ago.

"You're the engineer." His reply was cold.

"Then why did you also get up and look at the panel?"

Malcolm stayed silent. He didn't have a response.

Trip looked back at the panel and the wires. He bit the inside of his mouth while he studied each one closely. "What do you say to pullin' 'em all out?"

"What ever you say Commander."

Trip sat up angrily, however he had forgotten that there was a metal bed frame directly above him, and he hit his head with such a force that the bed jumped up from the floor and crashed back down again hitting Trip's head for a second time. He pulled back down to the floor and rubbed a hand on the area he had hit. He looked at Malcolm, and Malcolm could tell he was clearly cross.

"You'd better clean up your attitude or I'm not gonna help you get outta here!"

Malcolm closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He didn't like making his friends angry, but he had done it now. "I'm sorry Commander."

Trip slowly nodded his head. That time it had worked. Malcolm had moved away from under his bed and had moved over to his tray of food, and he was eating it. He seemed to be the only one brave enough to eat the meat.

Trip looked back into the small area where the wires were. He knew that if he was going to try anything he had to do it soon. He looked at the wires, placed his fingers round one of them and pulled…


	8. Zero Hour

**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews guys... here's part 8. i know this one is a bit short but i was running low on ideas.

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Archer listened to the conversation that was being held between the alien doctor and his Ensign.

"Once you're well enough the Police will come along and take you to a detainment complex." The doctor began to look at all the machine and monitors that Hoshi had been connected up to.

"Why?"

"We can't take any chances. It's most likely that then you'll be reunited with your friends." The doctor replied as he picked up a clipboard and began to take notes on Hoshi's condition. He was looking down at the floor and noticed by one of the legs of the bed, a foot slightly showing. It was a large, shiny, black boot.

Hoshi slightly followed where his gaze was and knew she had to do something.

"Look a can promise you we're only explorers. We don't want to destroy any planets. We want to study them." Hoshi began, hoping that she would be able to divert the doctor's gaze away from the boot, and also prevent herself from being put in a cell.

"Study it so you'll know how to destroy it?" the Doctor replied, anger in his voice. It was obvious to Hoshi that in the attack he had kept speaking of something had happened to him. Something that had scarred him deeply.

"Just over a year ago our planet was attacked and 7 million were people killed. Men, women, children. It's not something we would like to have repeated."

The doctor looked at Hoshi in shock. "7 million?" he repeated. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from the female.

"Doctor Fiscar please report to surgery immediately." came a voice on loud speakers.

"I'll talk to you later Hoshi." He replied and quickly left the room, stopping when he opened the door to look at the boot under the bed, but as he did he also noticed a boot behind the door. He quickly left allowing the hidden men to move out from their hiding places.

"Captain he saw your boot." Hoshi said as Archer appeared beside the bed. He sighed heavily knowing now the doctor would probably return with security.

"Is it safe to move her?" Archer asked as Phlox and Cooper walked out of the bathroom. The Denobulan took out his scanner and ran a couple of quick tests.

"Safer than leaving her here." He replied. They began to unhook all the various wires and cables that linked Hoshi to the machines. As soon as that was done, Archer picked her up and proceeded to leave the room. Once they were all out and along the corridors they headed back for the stairs.

When they turned a corner they were faced with 3 or 4 security men.

"Stay right where you are!" Shouted one of them. All of them were holding guns pointing at the team. Immediately the group turned round and looked for another exit, bullets rained down on them as they made their escape. "Don't let them get away! You, you that way. And you follow me." He ordered as they split up. Ready to apprehend Archer and his team.

As they ran the Starfleet officers knocked over a couple of doctor's and nurses, but their escape was more important than being careful not to knock anyone down. Cooper had to keep hold on Phlox's arm so they wouldn't loose him.

They had no idea where they were running. They were just trying to get away from the security officers. They were running down a long corridor when Whyte stopped.

"Captain!" he called. Archer turned round and realsied that Whyte had found the door they were looking for. They quickly ran to it just as the security officers rounded both the corners of the corridors ready to trap them.

"Halt!" Shouted one of the men as he noticed where they were going. However Archer and his teambolted in through the door and were down the steps. Half the security team followed down the steps while the other half went a different way, probably to catch them coming from the side of the building.

Whyte was first out to make sure that all was clear, and luckily, everything was. However they could hear the thunder of footsteps above them and so they quickly rushed out closing the door. Stevenson and Whyte found a couple of wooden crates and stacked them by the door to prevent it from being opened. They were safe…. For now.


	9. The Breach

Trip closed his eyes tight and held his breath. Malcolm closely watched the commander as his grip on the wires tightened. And then he pulled…

As soon as the wire was taken out of it's junction the lights went down and the noise, telling them that power generators had gone offline, sounded. They watched the shimmer of the forcefields as they went offline. The three of them sighed heavily. For a couple of seconds there was silence. Malcolm opened his mouth to speak but suddenly red lights flashed from the ceiling of the corridors and a siren blared.

"Oops." Trip said as he watched the lights. The three of them then readied themselves for a fight... But even after a few minutes no one came along.

"Security Breach… Security Breach… Hospital Level 3." An automated voice sounded. The warning repeated over and over again.

"That's not us commander, unless this is a hospital which I highly doubt." Malcolm looked at Trip. Quickly the three of them moved along the corridor to the lift. Pressing the correct buttons the door opened and they jumped in.

Very soon they were out of the building and running as fast as they could away from where they had been held prisoner. No guards were following them. What ever was happening at the hospital was probably pretty big. It was a lot easier than they expected. They had half expected there to be guards up on the main floor by the concealed lift, but there hadn't been any. Obviously these people needed a little more training in keeping watch over prisoners.

Malcolm stopped for a second to catch his breath. He wasn't used to running he was more used to standing ground and fighting. He looked around him and saw a group of people suddenly running out of a 5-story building.

"Commander!" He called. Both Trip and T'Pol stopped running and turned to look at him, and the people Malcolm was pointing at. Instantly Trip recognised who it was and realised they were running the wrong way to get to the pod, not that getting to the pod would've helped much. However now seeing this other group looked to be more promising of an escape from the planet.

"Captain!"

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Archer and his team were just about to run past a fountain when they heard a voice. They all stopped and turned and saw three people running towards them.

"Where have you been?" He called as they came closer, smiling at his friends. "We've been so worried about you Trip."

As soon as the three of them reached Archer and saw who was in his arms they all stayed silent. Having believed that she was dead, it was quite hard for them to take in that Archer was carrying a conscious Ensign Sato.

"Hoshi! You're all right!" Malcolm just couldn't help himself. He immediately moved to her and took her out of Archer's hold. Trip had now a broad smile on his face.

BANG!

"Get down! Get Down!" Cooper yelled as he noticed where the shots were coming from, pulling Phlox with him to hide behind the fountain. Instantly the people quickly ducked down as more shots were fired from the police and security officers. The bullets ricocheted off the pavement and various other objects, but none hit the rescue team.

"You four get to the pod now. We'll hold 'em off." Archer pointed to Malcolm, Hoshi, Phlox and Cooper. Immediately they all stood up and ran off in the direction of the shuttlepod. When they got to the trees Malcolm slowed down, being carefully not to trip up on any rocks or roots that might be poking out of the ground.

Firefight between the Starfleet officers and the policemen continued. Bullets kept bouncing off the fountain's statue and landing in the water, splashing on the men and T'Pol.

One man… hit on the shoulder by Cooper

Two men… hit in the stomach from Stevenson's weapon

Three men, hit in the shoulder by Archer's shot, were knocked down by the phase pistols, as the police continued to advance on the intruders. But no matter how many were taken down more kept coming.

Suddenly lightning streaked through the sky and rain began to pour down heavily. Thunder sounded close by, drumming for several seconds before it fizzled out.

"Let's get back to the pod!" Archer cried as he began to move away. The others quickly followed suit and ran off into the trees.

Another bolt of lightning streaked through the sky and the police could see where they were running to and quickly followed them, shooting as they went.

They knew a lot about lightning and knew they had to be quick to get back to the pod. It was going to be a bit of a squeeze, but they had to get them all up in one go. No one could be left in the mercy of the inhabitants.

Trip was running fast, probably the fastest he had run for a long time. However this was a bad time to be running fast. He wasn't looking where he was going and tripped up on a root that was sticking out of the ground. He went flying for a couple of feet and landed heavily on the ground.

A bolt of lightning then streaked through the sky, and this time it hit a tree that was close to Trip. He watched in fear as the tree began to burn and then it began fall towards the fallen engineer.


	10. Fallen Hero

Trip was too slow. The tree came crashing down, the bark creaking as it split from its stump, and the flames roaring as they burned through the wood.

It landed on Trip's leg. He yelled in pain as the weight of the tree crushed his leg.

"Commander!" Stevenson called as he watched the chief engineer getting caught under the burning tree. He quickly moved over to the fallen man, knowing he had to do something.

"Get out of here Stevenson!" Trip called, trying his best to ignore the pain, but it wasn't easy.

"I won't leave you sir!" Replied the security man as he tried to lift the tree, which was quickly burning, and the flames were getting closer to them both. Also the alien policemen were getting closer. A couple of bullets buried themselves in the tree trunk close to Trip and Stevenson.

"Ensign I told you to leave me here!" Trip began to try and push the tree trunk off his leg, but it just wouldn't budge.

"Captain!" Stevenson called to get more help. Archer, T'Pol and Whyte appeared and began to push the tree. The flames were creeping closer and closer, but the tree wasn't moving.

"Captain you gotta get outta here." Trip pleaded as he watched the planet's inhabitants getting closer.

Archer quickly reached into his pocket and drew out his communicator. "Archer to Enterprise. Lock onto Commander Tucker's signal and beam him up to the ship."

After a few seconds Trip disappeared and the team legged it to the shuttlepod, the aliens firing at them as they continued to run. Lightning still continuing to streak across the dark night sky. After several minutes more of running they made it back to the pod where the others were waiting.

"Where's Commander Tucker?" Malcolm asked she he helped them into the pod and closed the hatch.

"He's up on the ship. We had to transport him."

They didn't ask anymore questions after that. The pod engaged its thrusters and it lifted off the ground and made it's way back safely to the ship.

As the aliens watched the pod leave the planet they knew that their planet was doomed.

After they were cleared through de-con Phlox, Malcolm and Hoshi made their way to sickbay.

"Are you all right Commander?" Malcolm asked as he placed Hoshi on a biobed.

"Yeah, nothing a little r'n'r won't cure." Trip replied as he looked at his injured leg. Phlox moved over and began to scan him. "How bad is it?"

"Like you said Commander, nothing a little r'n'r won't cure. It's only fractured. You'll have to take a few weeks off duty for it to heel."

"Great. A few weeks. I swear I'm gonna kill those aliens." Trip muttered as he put his head in his hands.

"That's not such a good idea Commander. It's the reason they took you prisoner is because they thought we were there to destroy their planet." Hoshi replied. She then look at Malcolm, and smiled at him.

"Hoshi. There's something I need to you."

A slightly confused Hoshi looked into Malcolm's eyes. She tried to read his body language, but he wasn't doing anything that may give a clue as to what he was going to say.

"What is it?" Hoshi asked. Trip looked at Malcolm and smiled, knowing what the man what going to say to her.

"Hoshi… I love you." It was almost like Malcolm had planed that he was going to say those words as it came out so smoothly and quickly.

Hoshi just starred open mouthed. She had never expected anyone to say that… especially Malcolm. She knew he was shy around women, and never really spoke about personal feelings to anyone and now... he had just said he loved her. It took a few seconds for the words to sink in.

Hoshi had no words to respond to Malcolm's. They just kept going round and round in her head_. 'Malcolm loves me… Malcolm loves me... Malcolm loves me._' and then it sunk in… '_Oh my god!… Malcolm loves me_!'... now she was shocked.

Malcolm just couldn't hold back any longer. He gently placed a hand on Hoshi's chin and pulled her face to his, and soon their lips were touching. Hoshi didn't even try and retaliate, she was still a little shocked.

They were both caught up in the moment, not wanting to let it go that they didn't notice who entered.

A certain man with yellow stripes on his shoulders was standing at the door, a little surprised to say the least. He looked at Trip who was just smiling at him, along with Phlox. He silently slipped across the room and over to Trip.

Hoshi and Malcolm gently pulled out of the kiss. Tears were slightly falling down Malcolm's cheek and Hoshi brushed them away with her small, slender hand. She then rested her head on his shoulder and comforted him.

Archer need not to ask Phlox how Hoshi was, all he needed to do was to look at the young woman himself. Knowing Malcolm was with her, he knew she was all right.

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**A/N: Well that's the end of that story. Phew… Took me a bit of time to figure out how I was going to end it, and I hope I ended it all right.  
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**Thanks for all the reviews… they're what have pushed this story along.**

**More stories will come soon, so keep watching out… if ya have any suggestions for a story, don't hesitate to tell me… I like a good challenge.**


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